Romancing the Genres: love to write

Yes, I know this is March, but hear me out.

January seems to be my down month. The most I get done is organizing for a new year of writing. Other than that, the lethargy from a busy year previous sets in.

The best part about January, is looking forward to February. February you say? Are you nuts? The coldest, dreariest month of the year. What do you have to look forward to. Yeah, yeah…there is Valentine Day. And as a romance writer that should be exciting. And yes, it is. I love valentine chocolates in red heart-shaped boxes. And I love to write romantic stories.

But… The reason I LOVE and look forward to February… Or more specifically—the end of February is…

Every year, since 2016, I have participated in the New Jersey Romance Writers’ February 30K writing challenge. Thirty thousand words in twenty-eight days—what was I thinking? Or one may edit. Instead of counting new written words, one may count every three edited words as one written word. Something for everyone who wants to participate. By the time you read this I will have completed the 2023 challenge, My head will be spinning, and my energy depleted. But the excitement will carry me through until February of 2024

The first two years I worked full time at a job seventy-five miles away, so my time was extremely limited. I opted to challenge myself to ten thousand words that year and fifteen thousand the following year. Both years I exceeded that goal by a little bit. And…I was so proud of myself.

Emboldened in the third year, I went for the gold. And for the last five years I have exceeded my thirty-thousand words incrementally.

The fun part of this is the participants are not in competition with each other. We all cheer each other on each day. Whether we have a good or bad day of writing…or with life itself. As writers, we all know there are days, weeks, even years when life seems to get in the way of our passion to write.

There are basically no rules, except to report in daily (if you can) and the “never say the word ONLY” rule. As in, I ONLY wrote fifty words today, because my kid was sick, the dog escaped, the laundry needed doing, or whatever other excuse or life’s daily needs get in our way of our precious writing time. Every single word is to be celebrated, whether or not we meet the daily goal of 1072 words. If you write one word, it isn’t “I ONLY wrote…” It is call a friend or report on the loop - “YAY, I wrote one word today!”

If you take a day off or write fewer words, there is always time to make up the word count. I might not be in competition with others, but I am VERY competitive with myself. So, when I set a goal, I do everything possible to exceed my own expectations.

So, for a dreary, short, dark month of the year…I am always excited to see February role around. And YES, I always prep my spreadsheet with daily word count calculations, so it is ready to fill in on the first of February…on your mark, get set, GO WRITE! And I love the interaction and common goals of those who make up the group of writers, whose heads are down, brains and imagination are engaged, and fingers are flying during the month of February.

This year, with more than sixty writers participating, we totaled collectively 2.2 million words in twenty-eight days - WOW!

Sure, everyone is tired, but also exhilarated. We cheered each other on, we encouraged everyone, no matter their personal goals of 30K or lass or more, and we CELEBRATED together! And that counts for a lot, when normally writing is a lonely business.

What is your favorite time of the year to look forward to AND why?